


Of Journeys and New Friends

by stellacanta



Category: Final Fantasy XV
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Fix-It of Sorts, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-03-25
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-03-01 00:35:39
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,891
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23306170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stellacanta/pseuds/stellacanta
Summary: Somehow, as if by magic, Luna, Lib, and Nyx made it safely out of Insomnia after its fall.That was the start of it all ...(Or the one where Luna isn't quite so alone when she hikes across Lucis in a dress and heels.)
Relationships: Libertus Ostium & Nyx Ulric, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret & Libertus Ostium, Lunafreya Nox Fleuret & Nyx Ulric
Comments: 3
Kudos: 27
Collections: Eos Compendium





	Of Journeys and New Friends

**Author's Note:**

> ... I feel like there's some obvious and glaring typos in the zine version of this from me not going back and rereading it ... oops >.>

There was a frown upon Gentiana’s otherwise serene face when she saw Luna and her companions crouched in front of Umbra. The dog messenger seemed pleased to have new friends to play with and was currently engaged in a game of tug with the Kingsglaive she knew to be named Libertus. Sometimes, it was hard to know when the dog ended and when the messenger began with Umbra and his sister Pryna. (And really, it was quite unbefitting for a messenger of the Astrals to be fooling around with humans so.)

Luna had the leather journal that she used to send messages with Noctis opened to the last filled page. She looked to be in an engaging conversation with the Kingsglaive known as Nyx, but she looked up as Gentiana walked towards them with near silent steps. “Gentiana,” Luna said with a bright smile as she rose to greet her. “You made it, and you must have brought Umbra with you.” Umbra stopped tugging the bandana Libertus had in hand and looked up to the two of them at the mention of his name. The smile on Luna’s face fell a bit. “If you’re here with Umbra, does that mean it’s time?”

She replied in slow and measured tones, “the chosen king journeys yonder to claim his birthright-“

“-chosen king,” Nyx cut in suddenly, glancing at Libertus to gauge his friend’s reaction. “Are you talking about Prince Noctis? I know that he’s king now that his dad’s dead and all-“

“- _ Nyx,”  _ Libertus growled in warning but Nyx ignored him and continued on.

“-but claim his birthright? Isn’t this a bit sudden? Shouldn’t we let the kid grieve fir-“

Gentiana continued on as if there had been no interruption, “the oracle must begin her journey hence to pave the path so that the chosen king may fulfill his destiny.”

Luna clenched the pendant that she always wore around her neck. A dainty moon shaped thing that had been a gift from her late mother. One of the last gifts that Luna had received from the previous oracle, she believed. “I- I understand.” Luna looked up towards Gentiana with steel in her eyes and nary a quiver in her voice. “I will fulfill my calling, as it has been ordained.”

Nyx grabbed Luna’s arm roughly and jerked her towards him, but Luna refused to budge from where she was standing. Good, the girl was determined and unwavering as the oracle should be. “With your companions, go seek covenant with the Landforger and remind the Landforger of the promise made.”

Luna sketched a half curtsey, her hand still clenching the pendant tightly. “I will do as requested.”

She inclined her head and looked at Luna through half-open eyes. Ah, how the young woman had grown, she thought with a faint smile. “Already the wheels of fate are set in motion and already things have changed. May good fortune smile upon the oracle on her journey.”

Gentiana left as quietly as she had appeared. No one spoke as they watched her leave.

…

Lib waited until she was gone to break the silence. “Now would someone mind explaining to me just what in hells just happened?”

…

Luna had wanted to travel all the way to the Disc of Cauthess by foot. Nyx has quickly rejected the idea and secured transportation for them in the form of a hunter who happened to be headed out that way. If the hunter recognized any of the three, he wisely did not say and kept his eyes glued onto the road the whole time.

“I could have walked all the way there,” Luna insisted as she watched the scenery pass them by.

Nyx patted her shoulder. “And ruin your pretty white dress, princess? I don’t think so.”

“Queen,” Libertus corrected absentmindedly. Nyx glanced at his friend out of the corner of his eyes, the man had been sulking ever since Luna left a note to the prince (now king) that she was safe in that leather notebook of theirs and Umbra had trotted off with it as happy as could be. “She’s our queen, Nyx. Treat her with respect.”

Nyx snorted and rolled his eyes. “Yeah, when she gets married to the princeling, Lib, which hasn’t happened yet if you’ll recall.”

Lib grumbled something underneath his breath and Luna hid an amused giggle behind one hand. “Do not concern yourself with your friends’ actions, Libertus. I admire his frank choice of words and, well-“ She paused thoughtfully for a moment. “-it’s a bit like being amongst friends, and I didn’t have very many friends growing up.”

Nyx reached over and placed a hand over hers. “Well, I’ll be your friend, and, as your friend, I don’t think that white dress of yours is suitable for hiking across Lucis. It’s going to get dirty.”

Luna scoffed and looked at him askance. “And pray tell why it wouldn’t be suitable? It’s short, so it won’t get caught on anything.” Nyx opened his mouth as if to say something, but Luna steamrolled right past him. “ _ And _ it’s less restrictive than the other dress I had been wearing. Besides, Umbra was so kind in bringing a change of clothing for me-”

“-well,  _ princess _ -“

“Nyx, leave it,” Lib said a moment later as the truck slid to a stop. “We’re here and our  _ queen _ will be doing at least some hiking whether you like it or not.”

Nyx sulked as Luna gave him a victorious little grin before she turned to look around at the landscape around them. “So why are we stopping here?”

“The Nifs have a blockade up ahead,” the hunter said at that moment, the first words he had said to them in a while. The man nodded up at the line of cars parked ahead. “Suspect they’re on the lookout for contraband or suspicious persons.” He glanced back at the three of them and then back at the road. “Don’t think you’d want to be seen by them if you can avoid it.”

“Thank you, kind hunter, and may the gods watch over you.” Luna smiled at the hunter. The two glaives simply nodded their thanks before they grabbed their gear and hopped out of the truck.

“Just doin’ my job,” the hunter replied.

Nyx and Lib were waiting for her when she finally got out of the truck with her things. They watched as the hunter drove off to join the line of vehicles at the checkpoint the hunter had mentioned. Nyx had barely opened his mouth to ask her where they were headed when Luna strode past him in the direction of the mountains that rose up on either side of the road. “Come on,” she said to them. “The Archean is this way and I know of a haven on the other side.”

Lib caught Nyx’s eye and shrugged before he followed her towards the mountain.

Nyx stared at the pair of them and grumbled about spoiled royalty who thought they could  _ walk _ the entire breadth of Lucis in a dress and heels before following.

…

There did turn out to be a haven on the other side. But it took most of a day’s worth of climbing and walking to get there. By time they reached the haven, its blue sigils offered a welcoming glow in the orange-gold light of early evening.

Nyx, in the meantime, had come to grudgingly accept that Luna wasn’t exactly  _ unprepared _ for the rigors of traveling across Lucis by foot. His opinion of her had improved from being a headstrong and brash Tenebraen princess to a brash Queen of Lucis to be with not terrible survival skills.

“Do they have mountains in Tenebrae,” Lib couldn’t help but ask when they got camp set up. It was a simple camp, a little more than three bedrolls around a crackling fire.

Nyx elbowed him sharply in the side. “What was that Nyx?” His friend stared at him with a raised eyebrow until Lib got the message. “Oh!” Lib looked towards Luna who was hiding a laugh behind a hand. Sheepishly, he rubbed the back of his head. “I guess I forgot that Tenebrae had cliffs and such-“

“-oh, you’re fine. I knew what you meant.” Luna gestured for both Nyx and Lib to sit down as she started to prepare dinner from the rations they had. “Tenebrae does have cliffs, but no one is allowed to climb on them. It’s too dangerous, and they can be slippery from the rain.”

“Then how-“

Luna smiled warmly. There was a twinkle in her eyes as she poked the campfire a bit. “It’s just something I had to learn as part of oracle training.”

“Oracle training?” The question was dripping with incredulity and Lib squinted at her as though he had a hard time believing her words. “You need training to walk around in heels all day and heal people?” Nyx scowled and elbowed his friend harder this time. “Ow! What was that for Nyx? It was an honest question!”

There was a sudden, boisterous laugh and the two glaives turned towards Luna who was barely able to keep her composure in check. Lib grit his teeth.

“What’s so funny,” he asked, quietly seething.

It took Luna a while to get her laughter under control. She reached out for his hand to calm him when she could finally look at the two without giggling. “I apologize for that. It was most impolite of me.” Lib grunted, somewhat mollified by her apology, and she continued on. “It’s a fairly common misconception that oracle training is just training on public speaking and on how to use the magic passed down through the bloodline.”

“You mean to say that’s not what it is,” Nyx asked, a seed of doubt present in his voice. Lib scowled at him. If Nyx didn’t think that oracle training was all that impressive then what was the elbowing for?

“Well, that’s not the entirety of it-“ Luna looked ready to say more, but paused and looked up at the trees, briefly, as if weighing her words. “Most of it is survival and combat training.” She prodded the food that was heating above the fire. “The public engagement lessons and magic lessons are important, of course, but it’s equally as important that the oracle is able to defend herself and is able to fend for herself on her journey to heal the sick and create havens.” Luna shook her head and chuckled lowly as if making a joke at her own expense. The flickering fire cast shadows on her face that made her seem tired all of a sudden. “Or, in my case, to forge covenants with the gods.” She sighed wistfully and pulled her knees to her chest. “I always knew Noctis was special.”

“What, and the oracle isn’t supposed to have guards with her on this journey,” Lib asked suddenly. The distant look in Luna’s eyes faded as she focused her gaze on him. “Seems a bit dangerous for one woman to undertake such a grand journey across Lucis on her own doesn’t it?”

“There are honorary guards at the start of each oracle’s journey,” Luna said in response, a wry smile playing about her lips. “Whatever the reigning monarch can afford, but it is expected that the oracle would continue on her journey even if there were no guards around her. It’s a bit hard to have a group of bodyguards protecting someone while they’re climbing a cliff or deep inside a cave, after all. I’d imagine not everyone would fit if the cave was sufficiently narrow.”

Lib was satisfied with the response and glanced at the food to see if it was done. Nyx, however, looked towards her with an amused glimmer in his eyes. “Does that make us your honorary guards then?” Lib stopped and glanced first at Nyx and then at Luna.

It took a moment before Luna reacted, blinking in baffled silence. “I suppose it does.” She prodded at the food that was heating a bit before grabbing the plates to serve the food. “Although, you do realize that means I’m free to ditch you two if I think you’re slowing me down correct?”

“Well then princess-“ Nyx ignored the muttered ‘Queen’ from Lib. “-we’ll just have to race to catch up then.”

…

Hornets. Why did it always have to be hornets? Of all the daemons in Lucis, he swore the hornets had to be the most annoying.

Nyx had tried to throw his kukris at one that was hovering overhead. It resulted in one lost kurki, and Lib shouting at him to be more careful since they couldn’t warp. “Yeah, yeah,” he grumbled beneath his breath. “A bit hard to forget when you  _ keep reminding me about it _ .”

“Wait for them to get close and then take them down.”

If Nyx wasn’t busy trying to find off the most annoying bugs in all of Lucis, he would have rolled his eyes. “Yeah? Tell me something I  _ don’t _ know, Lib.” He turned towards a hornet that was hovering close by.

“Nyx behind-“

“-I got it!”

Everything happened so quickly that he almost didn’t see what happened. In one fluid motion, Luna had snatched his remaining kukri out of his hand and threw it at a hornet that was diving for his back. The blade landed perfectly in the creature’s chest and Lib managed to finish it off while it was down. Other hornets descended upon the group. Before Nyx could either thank or warn her, Luna had summoned her trident and was using it to effectively demolish the hornets within reach of her trident.

He snapped his gaze away from watching her when he felt the cool handle of his kurki being placed in his palm. “Less gawping, more fighting. There’s more of those things around and I don’t think Lady Lunafreya can finish them all off on her own.”

“R-right.” (He wasn’t about to tell Lib that he would have liked to see her finish them all off on her own. Luna in battle was graceful and deadly. An absolute delight to watch.)

…

“Oracle training,” Lib asked Luna when they were done and surveying the damage.

Luna paused in the middle of wiping off the light sweat that had formed on her forehead and laughed in delight at the blank expression on his face. “The trident is more than just for decoration.” With a wave of her hand and a shimmer of light, the trident disappeared. She looked at the space where the trident once was thoughtfully. “I underwent a month of combat training before receiving the trident so I would know how to wield it effectively.”

“Of course, you did,” Nyx couldn’t help but scoff.

…

Around midday, after a quick lunch, Luna had insisted on making a slight detour on their journey. That detour had ended up being to a royal tomb hidden deep within the woods.

Lib whistled when he saw the imposing gates in the distance, and then the dome shaped building that stood between them. “Who knew something like this was here the whole time, huh?” He looked towards Nyx who was running his hands over the gates’ weather worn stone. “You know anything about this Nyx?”

Nyx shook his head and looked back at him grimly. “No, don’t think I’ve ever passed by this place. I bet that Pelna might have but-“ Pelna was dead now. There was no one else they could ask. Lib scratched his chin and looked away.

“Pelna,” Luna asked out of curiosity. She let the matter drop when the two of them looked awkwardly at each other instead of answering her unasked question. “The royal tombs are scattered throughout Lucis,” Luna said as she walked towards the building at the end of the grove in a quick clip, Lib and Nyx all but jogging to keep up with her. “At one point, it was known where they all were, but, as time passed, they have been forgotten about and fallen into a state of disrepair.”

“How do you know about them then?”

Luna gave Nyx a tight grin in response. “It used to be customary for oracles to pay homage to the royal tombs whenever they visited Lucis. I was taught of the existence of the tombs and the kings of Lucis interred within them as part of my training.”

“Do all the kings of Lucis have royal tombs,” Lib asked as he stopped in the middle of the grove to admire the architecture around him.

Luna chuckled and shook her head, walking ahead to stop in front of the door to the tomb. “There have been many kings of Lucis but only thirteen royal tombs are known to exist. If every king of Lucis had a royal tomb, you would expect a least a hundred more.” She tried to push the door open and frowned when the stone didn’t budge.

“Huh, so how do they pick which kings to get a royal tomb then?”

Luna turned to shoot them a wry smile. “Not quite,” she said before turning back to the door she stood in front of. “Only the most impressive ones get tombs.”

“And how do they determine which ones are the most impressive,” Lib asked with a snort. 

Luna just gave a small chuckle as she began to trace the etchings on the door with her fingertips. “What is she doing?” Lib turned back towards Nyx to reply that he didn’t know when a beam of light shot up towards the heavens. “What was that?!”

The pair of glaives watched in shock as the trident of the oracle appeared before Luna and she slammed it down on the ground. “Oh, Great King of Lucis past,” she shouted at the beam of light, her grip on the trident tightened. “I summon thee to grant my request to judge the worth of the men before me and grant them the magic of the crystal.”

The shock only intensified when they heard a booming voice respond to her. “Honored Oracle of the Gods, your request has been heard. However, the current King of Lucis still lives, is he unable to judge the worthiness of the men before you?”

“Oh, Great King,” Luna shouted up at the unseen figure. Nyx looked towards Lib to see if the other glaive knew what was happening. It was clear from Lib’s face he was as clueless as Nyx. Nyx slowly looked back towards Luna. “The Promised King of Light is on a great journey with his closest companions and cannot fulfill his duties to these men. I request that you, in his stead, judge if these men are worthy of the magic of the crystal.”

“Very well. If it is as you say, I shall peer into their hearts and judge their worthiness.” A crystal blue light surrounded the two glaives and they found themselves reliving the memories of their past. Nyx screamed as he relived the pain of Galahd’s fall and of losing Selena. He thought he could hear Lib screaming next to him. “Libertus Ostium and Nyx Ulric, I have seen into your hearts and found you- worthy.” A familiar power filled the pair and the visions of their pasts faded from their sight. They were no longer in Galahd, but back in the grove of a royal tomb in Lucis. “Go in peace and use your powers wisely.”

The beam of light dispersed into the air and Luna turned around to face them, a warm smile on her face and the trident clasped tightly in her hands behind her. “To answer your earlier question, Libertus,” she said slowly. “I suppose the ones that can do that are the ones that get royal tombs.”

…

Things went faster with their powers once again restored. Nyx, happy to have his powers again, kept warping ahead for “scouting purposes” and Lib kept finding himself needing to tell the other glaive to stop going on ahead. “Oh, please, don’t bother on my account,” Luna said to Lib after Nyx warped away yet another time, amusement coloring every crevice of her voice.

“You sure, Queen? Nyx isn’t making a very good honor guard going on ahead like that.”

Luna hid a laugh behind a hand. “Didn’t he say he was scouting ahead? Besides, between you and me, I think we can take care of any daemons that we may encounter.”

Lib sighed. “If you say so.”

…

There were MT carriers around the Disc when they arrived.

The trio watched the movements of Niflheim troops and the MTs carefully from the distance. “I don’t think we’re gonna be able to get past them,” Nyx observed as he watched the carriers fly past, closely hugging the road that led to the Disc.

Luna inhaled shakily. “Then, I guess we’ll just have to get there the hard way.”

Lib and Nyx glanced at each other as the Tenebraen princess marched off away from the road. They nodded at each other and followed behind.

…

In the end, it seemed almost anticlimactic. All those daemon fights and cracked and bleeding skin for what felt like a few minutes of Titan being awakened. (Although the Astral leaning down to talk to Luna  _ was  _ pretty cool even if the actual speaking part felt like they were going to fall through the cracks of the ground shaking beneath them.) “It’s done,” a tired Luna said from where she was leaning against Lib.

“Yep, it’s done,” Lib agreed as he continued to support her.

“How many more do you need to form a covenant with?” Nyx looked up at Lib from where he was crouched down in front of the oracle.

“Four more.” A pause as Luna tiredly closed her eyes. “Well, three, technically. I do not believe I need to secure a covenant with the fourth.” She reopened them and stared expressionlessly at something on the ground.

“That’s lucky.” The pair of them watched as Luna huffed out a breath before she pushed herself away from Lib.

“We don’t have time to waste, we should-“ The oracle wobbled a bit on her feet.

“Luna!” The pair ran to catch her.

Luna managed to catch herself before she fell and held up a hand. They stopped in front of her. “I’m fine, just tired from the covenant.” She managed a weak grin and took a deep breath. “We should hurry, Ramuh is the next astral that a covenant needs to be formed with. Luckily, Fociagh Hollow is close by.” She trailed off with a wry look before she walked towards the exit, Lib quickly falling into step besides her to help catch her if she stumbled again.

The three of them managed to slip out without the Nifs noticing.

…

“Hey Nyx, could do you me a favor?”

“What’s the favor?”

“… Could you stay here and meet up with Noctis and let him know that I’m still alive and waiting for him in Altissia? Oh, and that he’ll need to complete each trial that the Astrals set for him. I know it’s a lot but-“

“-well, Queen, if that’s what you want done.”

“And don’t dilly dally, hero, you warp straight back to us when you’ve passed on that message you hear?”

“Of course, Lib. I’ll be back with you two before you know it.”

“Good.”


End file.
